Text 2844, 82 rader
Skriven 2012-08-24 16:00:28 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
   Kommentar till text 2834 av Bjorn Felten (2:203/2)
Ärende: Assange (was: Quoting problem)
======================================
Bjorn Felten wrote to David Drummond on Friday August 24 2012 at 14:05:

DD>> Is it necessary to wear a condom? Will one be extradited from UK of
DD>> one doesn't?

BF> Only if a groupie, who's afraid she'll get pregnant, is involved.

Only if your name is Assange.

The joke (not very funny) is that ONLY in Sweden is "rape" defined as
consensual intercourse in which the woman (not the man) "feels used" after the
fact. And goes to the police.

This is NOT! "rape" as defined in any other EU country, although the term is
generously used in the media to make Assange sound like Jack the Ripper on the
run.

Once this happens, the man has nothing to laugh about. He is arrested, a secret
trial held, a verdict rendered, and then - but only then - may he protest and
request a public hearing.

Assange slept with two Swedish women - you should not even LOOK at a Swedish
woman if you're in Sweden, but he didn't know that - and they talked with one
another afterwards. One or both got mad at him for his "infidelity" and that
was that. One or both went to the police. The matter of the
broken/forgotten/ignored condom was merely grist on the mills of Swedish law.
That made things even better for the foreign media without any knowledge of
Swedish law, but a great desire to generate headlines.

He was questioned, offered to stay in Sweden if further questionsing was
required, but was told he could leave. After he came to England, a different,
and more "gung-ho" states' attorney (female, naturally) issued an EU arrest
warrent for him. No change, just questioning. There still is no chanre.

This is - believe it or not - legal whether the alleged crime is a crime in the
country where the person resides or not. If, for example, an arabic EU country
would issue an EU warrent for "blasphemy" because someone "descecrated a Koran"
or "insulted the Prophet", a Christian EU coultry would have to extradite the
person, regardless of the possible sentence.

The idea the EU politicians originally had was to "simplify" extradition
procedures in the EU. The result was to extradite people who have not committed
a crime according to the law of the country they reside in. The politicians who
thought this up should be proud of themselves. And immediately extradited to an
EU country in which their behavior in any way is contradictory to the local
law, no regard being given to where the act was committed.

At any rate, Assange offered many times to be questioned without being arrested
and returned to Sweden - all offers were rejected, including those proposed by
the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

His fear is that the Swedes will simply pack him up and send him off on the
next plane for the USA, where he has a minimum of several decades in prison if
not more to fear for his Wikileaks work.

Based on the refusal of the Swedish government to guarantee he will not be
re-extradited to the USA (a similar refusal was given by the British
government), he is naturally not inclined to trust either, and thus stays more
or less imprisoned in the Ecuadorian Empassy in London. The Swedes did state
they wouldn't extradite him to a country where he could face the death penalty,
but what does that really mean when he could be facing life imprisonment in the
USA?

There is still no charge against him in Sweden (believe it or not!). The
Swedish authorities claim they only want him for questioniong, but do their
best to avoid questioning him, even when offered multiple opportunities to do
so. What they really want is to have him arrested and in a cell, in their
hands, to do with as they wish.

If it really were merely a matter iof questioning, the matter would have been
resolved in a civilized manner long ago. But naturally it isn't, and Assange is
quite right not to trust either the British or the Swedes.

That's my reading of the current situation.

Now you can call me a "senile old man" and try to defend Swedish law if you
wish. However, you may have problems convincing anyone except yourself.

Cheers, Bob

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